Daily Archives: 3 Apr 08

Male rock fans likely to vote Republican: survey

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“The Jacobs Media’s Media/Technology Web Poll IV of more than 27,000 respondents cited stronger than expected interest in the November 2008 election among fans of rock, classic rock, and alternative radio stations.

It also found that John McCain, the Republican candidate for U.S. president, was the top pick for the Oval Office for men and classic rock partisans — those people who tune in to stations playing music from the ‘original classic rock era’ of 1964 to 1975, comprised of bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd.” (Yahoo! News)

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Time and Mind

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//a465.g.akamai.net/f/465/1984/1d/www.ingentaconnect.com/images/journal-logos/berg/tmdj.gif' cannot be displayed]Vol. 1, no. 1 contents (free downloads) include:

(Time and Mind)

English Heretic

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“It is our task at English Heretic, ostensibly, to maintain, nurture and care for the psychohistorical environment of England. Availed of the services of some of the country’s very finest occult archaeologists, astral geographers and mystical toponymists, we aim to help people decode and realise the alchemical ciphers and conspiratorial interplay of the buildings and landscapes around them.

Whether it be via the transcript of an imaginal ordnance survey, documentary evidence of a psychogeographic derivé, or technical guide on passage through a liminal gateway, we aim to provide a comprehensive set of resources for both novice and experienced inner landscape investigators. With these tools at their disposal we hope to encourage more people to undertake voyages to exciting, uncanny and often terrifying interdimensional spaces.”

Sidewalk Psychiatry

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//www.candychang.com/artdesign/pages/image/sidewalk_whosef.jpg' cannot be displayed] “While doing some habitual walking and thinking one morning, Candy thought it would be nice to have some help along the way. Pedestrians in the city often find themselves walking in deep thought. A routine trip can prompt reflections on everything from future goals to last night’s dinner conversation. As people sacrifice personal time for hectic schedules, these casual occasions for reflection become all the more important.

Sidewalk Psychiatry encourages self-evaluation in transit by posing critical questions on the pavements of New York City. Now your daily ponderings and emotional problems can be prodded and treated on the go – and, best of all, it’s free of charge!” (candychang.com via boing boing)

Rupert Sheldrake stabbed at conference while talking about thought transference

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Police arrest suspect after attack at lecture: “…Sheldrake had been talking about how thoughts can be transferred by staring into another’s eyes. During the lecture in the main ballroom on La Fonda’s second floor, an Asian man left the room and when he returned, he didn’t take a seat but stood near the podium with his eyes closed like he was meditating, Edwards said.

The attack came when Sheldrake called for a break about 3 p.m. Edwards said he started to leave the room when he heard a commotion. By the time he looked back, he said, an Asian man was being held on the floor by four people while a fifth held a knife in a napkin. Mecham said the knife was a folding type that hunters typically use.

Edwards said Sheldrake had a 2- or 3-inch cut on the front of his left thigh, just above his kneecap…” (Santa Fe New Mexican)

This was as much of the account as was included in Boing Boing, at which point in my reading I assumed that the assailant was probably suffering from schizophrenia. One of the cardinal, terrifying, symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia is thought control or, specifically, thought insertion, the experience that one’s thoughts have been inserted into one’s mind by another, that one is not in control of one’s own thoughts and does not have privacy in their mind. It is often accompanied by the symptoms of thought withdrawal or thought broadcasting. Although there is some dispute about what the cardinal features of schizophrenia are, these symptoms are core in the schema of illustrious German psychiatrist Kurt Schneider, and have come to be known as Schneiderian signs. When I went from the Boing Boing excerpt to the more complete account in the New Mexican, the following illuminated the man’s plight further:

“Hirano had been attending the 10th International Conference on Science and Consciousness. Other attendees said he had been acting oddly. They said he confronted Sheldrake earlier this week, telling him he heard voices and saw demons.”

These frightful schizophrenic symptoms are experiences in need of an explanation to the sufferer. Often, the explanations are delusional. Delusions are outlandish, irrational but comforting theories to explain the bewildering and horrifying experiences, since any explanation is better than having none at all. Once hit upon, delusions are rigidly adhered to. A delusion is, in this sense, not a core symptom of schizophrenic experience but a compensatory effort on the sufferer’s part, to my way of thinking.

Someone who claims familiarity with the techniques of thought insertion, claims of which by the psychotic sufferer have usually been scoffed at by listeners, is immediately suspect as responsible for the sufferer’s symptoms.